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Talking
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Public Houses (Pubs)
I am reliably informed that the longest pub name in Finland is Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsi Baari, a pub in Salla, Lapland. Thankfully, English pub names are much shorter and easier to pronounce.
The word pub is short for public house. There are over 60,000 pubs in the UK (53,000 in England and Wales, 5,200 in Scotland and 1,600 in Northern Ireland). One of the oldest pubs, Fighting Cocks in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, is located in a building dating back to the eleventh century. Contrastingly, the oldest pub in Finland (at least according to their web site) is Salhojankadun Pub in Tampere which first opened its doors in 1969. Despite having an unpronounceable (for me) and un-English name; Salhojankadun is one of the few ‘genuine’ English pubs in Finland. The interior is typically English and it has retained the same characteristic through all these years. The Finnish Beer Association and Union of Breweries selected Salhojankadun Pub as Beer Restaurant of the Year in 1995.
The most common name for an English pub is the easily pronounceable ‘The Red Lion’ of which at the last count there were 603. In England, pubs often have two bars, one usually quieter than the other; many have a garden where people can sit in the summer. Children can go in pub gardens with their parents.
Customs in British pubs differ from those in Finnish bars. In Britain, you must go to the bar to order drinks and food and pay for your purchase immediately, there is no table service. It is sometimes difficult to get served when pubs are busy: people do not queue, but the bar staff will usually try and serve those who have been waiting the longest at the bar first. Bartenders are called ‘landlords’ and ‘barmaids’ and they do not expect frequent tipping. To tip a landlord or barmaid, it is customary to tell him to "buy himself one." Groups of friends normally buy 'rounds' of drinks, where the person whose turn it is will buy drinks for all the members of the group. If you accidentally spill a stranger's drink, it is good manners (and prudent) to offer to buy him/her another drink.
Most pubs in England are ‘tied houses’. This means they are owned by a brewery and only sell beer from that brewery. A few pubs are ‘free houses’ they are privately owned and can sell beer from any brewery so usually they have a wider and better selection of beers.
Pubs sell many different kinds of beer, some on tap (from a big container under the bar) and some in bottles. A popular kind of British beer is bitter, which is dark and served at room temperature (not hot, not cold). British beer is brewed from malt and hops. Nowadays, lager is the most popular British beer. It is lighter in colour than bitter and served cold. Guinness, my personal favourite, is a very dark, creamy kind of beer called a stout, it is made in Ireland and is popular all over Britain and thankfully increasingly Finland. In the West of England, cider made from apples, is very popular. Like wine, it is described as sweet or dry, but is drunk in beer glasses and can be stronger than beer!
Beers are served in ‘pints’ (0.56L) for a large glass and ‘halves’ (0.28L) for a smaller one. When the Manchester United manager was concerned that football legend George Best was drinking too many pints he told him: “From now on, I want you to cut back and drink halves”. Later in the bar, when asked what he would like to drink, George replied “Two halves of beer, please”. In total British people drink an average of 99.4 litres of beer every year. More than 80% of this beer is drunk in pubs and clubs.
Traditionally, licensing laws have required English pubs to close at 11 p.m. (23.00). This was because in the First World War, munitions workers needed to get up really early, and it was difficult for them to wake up on time if they had a hangover. The solution was to make the whole country stop drinking early. This meant when leaving the pub it was always possible to get the last bus home. However, as of 23 November, 2005, English pubs have been able to open 24 hours a day. As I only visit England once or twice a year, I had not given this new law much thought, until last summer. Happily enjoying a Guinness or two (maybe five or six) with an old friend, I looked at my watch and noticed that it was 00.45. I had missed the last bus and last train.
The minimum drinking age in Britain is eighteen, but fourteen-year-olds may enter a pub unaccompanied by an adult if they only order a meal. Children may enter a pub with their parents until 9 p.m. (21.00) which lets families enjoy reasonably priced pub meals together, and allows pubs to continue in their traditional roles as ‘community centres’.
Many English people visit the pub to play games, especially darts, cards, pool, dominoes and skittles; or to participate in a weekly pub quiz.
To serve as an example of the cultural and historical significance of the English pub, I leave you with a quote by Winston Churchill. “The pub is an important British institution.”
Mike Bangle is the owner of Talking English language consultancy and can be contacted at mike.bangle(at)phnet.fi
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